{"id":9759,"date":"2024-01-17T08:19:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T08:19:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Housing-cut-from-Arts-Alley-plans-returning-to-Planning-Board-53716031\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=9759","title":{"rendered":"South Main Street plans, sans\u00a0housing,\u00a0back before planning board"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Renderings
Renderings from a new proposal for the Arts Alley development show the reduced size of its building on South Main Street \u2014 down to two floors with a roof deck \u2014 and the addition of a restored antique, galley-style diner to its footprint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Renderings
Renderings from a new proposal for the Arts Alley development show the reduced size of its building on South Main Street \u2014 down to two floors with a roof deck \u2014 and the addition of a restored antique, galley-style diner to its footprint.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

A proposal for a new South Main Street property was reduced\u00a0to two stories and dropped\u00a016 units of market-rate housing from its previous plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Concord Planning Board approved the construction of a four-story building \u2014\u00a0featuring a \u201cFriendly Toast\u201d restaurant on the first floor, an event space on the top floor and two floors of residential space in the middle \u2014 on land between\u00a0the Concord Food Co-op and the bank of the New Hampshire Stage in May. That plan was scaled back from an originally proposed five stories.<\/p>\n

Developer Steve Duprey has now\u00a0asked for the Planning Board\u2019s sign-off on another pared-down design. An amended proposal for the property, named Arts Alley after the walkway it would add connecting the three restaurant spaces, will come\u00a0before the board Wednesday. It includes\u00a0the construction of a two-story building and with a seasonal rooftop bar, with the regional breakfast chain on the first floor and a\u00a0function\u00a0hall on the second. The plans also add a restored and relocated galley-style\u00a0diner to the outdoor patio behind the new building that Duprey said would be available for private parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reason for this\u00a0change in plan is the same as the previous changes: expense. The approved apartments, which targeted\u00a0young professionals and law students in the area, are cost-prohibitive, and the location is not suited to condos or other higher-market housing because it would lack on-site parking and a view, Duprey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The downsized proposal is scheduled for a public hearing Wednesday \u2014\u00a0though the City Planning Department has recommended that the hearing be continued to the board\u2019s February meeting so that ongoing questions about the exterior\u00a0design could be ironed out.\u00a0A separate but related application from Duprey to renovate the carriage house out back into a\u00a0live-music-oriented restaurant and bar is also on the agenda.<\/p>\n

To make way for the new development, it now seems likely the Norris House, the green 1860 mansion\u00a0currently on-site, will be demolished. Duprey has been trying to save the historic structure by relocating\u00a0it. The closest location available is more than a mile away, near the intersection of Penacook and Rumford Streets, and the cost to transport the building that far \u2014 not factoring resituating\u00a0it on a new foundation \u2014 would clock in around $200,000, Duprey said. While a final call on the building\u2019s fate is likely due next week, its odds are \u201cnot favorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are looking grim, but we\u2019re not giving up hope,\u201d Duprey said. If the Norris House is demolished, Duprey pledged that photos and items\u00a0removed from the home would be incorporated into a display honoring the property\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Plans from the state to build a four-story, 409 space legislative parking garage downtown will get a first look from the Planning Board Wednesday as well. The garage would occupy the entire city block between the Legislative Office Building and the First Church of Christ Scientist. The building currently on-site\u00a0previously held the state Department of Justice and is in the process of being demolished.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00a02022, with safety concerns about\u00a0their garage\u00a0over Storrs Street and with parking places downtown reserved for lawmaker overflow\u00a0during the legislative session, the state approved $35 million to relocate\u00a0the DOJ, knock down the building previously housing it, build a new, 450-space garage on that site and demolish the old one. After this month\u2019s informal review, a\u00a0public hearing for the state\u2019s proposal\u00a0is slated for February.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposal for a new South Main Street property was reduced\u00a0to two stories and dropped\u00a016 units of market-rate housing from its previous plans.\u00a0The Concord Planning Board approved the construction of a four-story building \u2014\u00a0featuring a \u201cFriendly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":9760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=93]Catherine McLaughlin[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,504],"tags":[94,24,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[553],"class_list":["post-9759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-home-centerpiece-2-cm","tag-concord-nh","tag-facebook","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42707854-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9761,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9759\/revisions\/9761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9759"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=9759"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}